Nicklaus Evolution

[JWL]

Ian
Thanks for the nice pics of Ocean Hammock.   The course looked very nice.
Just a quick comment on the strategy on the Par 5, 6th hole with the peninsula green.  I think there are 3 basic strategic decisions on the hole.   The fairway is quite wide but a drive down the left side, which requires more carry over the lake, opens a more direct second shot down the fairway.  Depending on where the pin is located, a second shot farther down the fairway will give a much better angle of approach, especially to a back left pin.   The shorter the second shot, the more the large front bunker comes into play, and makes the distance of the approach more exacting.   If you drive down the safer right side, then the second shot is aimed more directly at the lake fronting the green and care must be taken not to layup to close to the water on a downslope.   This will undoubtedly make your approach shot longer than if you could have played farther down the fairway with the second shot.
Of course, the very longest off the tee,
 playing down the left side on their tee shot, can attempt to reach the peninsula green (it is not totally surrounded by water)in two shots.  This will require two great shots, but to putt for an eagle, maybe that should be required every now
and then.

Regarding the 14th, I don't know where your drive was, but I am perplexed that you couldn't see the water in front of the green, even though it is separated from the green by bunkers.
The best play to get the shortest approach shot would be left of the large center bunker, but the best angle would be achieved if one could drive over that center bunker where the fairway opens up.   Shorter hitters do have the option of playing safe to the right, and basically around the water.

Anyway, thanks again for posting.   I must get over there very soon to play.

[Tom_Doak]

Jim:

Not to put you on the spot, but if you can share, who does the basic routing work on Jack's golf courses?  Is it really Jack poring over the topos, or does he comment on different options, and then really start giving his input once the individual holes are in place?

Mike Trenham's comment about being able to pick out the work of design associates is generally true of every golf course architect who has gotten big.  I could pick out the differences between Morcom and Maxwell and Fleming, even though all of them have MacKenzie's name on them; and I'm sure that some enterprising person might be able to recognize some differences between Jim Urbina's work and Bruce Hepner's and Eric Iverson's (and Tom Mead's and Gil Hanse's, for that matter) on my own courses, although no one has ever really pointed it out to me.

On the other hand, MacKenzie's courses (and my own) have a certain similarity because we're the ones who decided where the holes go, and there is a style to that as well.  But with other architects, especially player-architects, I'm not sure if that carries through or whether the similarities in their work are just a function of their in-hole strategic ideas.

Anyone who questions whether Jack Nicklaus is involved in his own courses has obviously never talked to anyone who has ever worked for him.  As to whether he's getting better, I really couldn't say because I haven't seen much of his work the past 5-10 years, but he did some pretty good work early in his career, too.

[Lou_Duran]

Seeking comments, for or against, on Muirfield Village.  Does it belong in the US top 50?